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Close up square image of a slice of the cake on stacked plates with milk and more cake slices in background.
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Easy Chocolate Cake

The perfect dessert solution, this Easy Chocolate Cake is almost effortless with a fluffy but moist cake and a silky smooth buttercream.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time36 minutes
Total Time51 minutes
Course: Cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12
Calories: 823kcal
Author: Tornadough Alli

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs room temp
  • 1 ½ cups whole milk

Frosting:

  • 2 cups milk chocolate chips
  • 1 ½ cups unsalted butter softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan, set aside.
  • Make cake batter by whisking together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl, set aside.
  • Add butter and sugar to a separate large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl, beat until creamy.
  • Beat each egg individually until each is combined into butter mixture before adding the next one.
  • Add flour mixture in three batches, adding milk with last batch and mixing until smooth and just combined (do not overmix).
  • Pour and smooth batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 36-37 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool.
  • While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting, add butter and powdered sugar to large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer and beating until smooth and creamy (about 4 minutes on high).
  • Add salt and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
  • With a double boiler or heat-safe bowl over saucepan with about two inches of water in the pan, heat chocolate on low heat until begging to melt. Remove from heat and stir until smooth.
  • Allow the chocolate to cool slightly, then mix into butter mixture until combined.
  • Spread evenly over top of cooled cake and serve.

Notes

  1. The cake does not have vanilla in it, but you can add 2 teaspoons if you'd like.
  2. Make sure you do not overmix your cake batter.
  3. Other frostings can be used, see some of my ideas above.
  4. Coffee can be added to bring out the chocolate flavor, see above on how to incorporate that.
  5. You can use salted butter, just omit the salt in the recipe.
  6. This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
  7. You can melt your chocolate chips in the microwave, but be careful that they do not burn or seize up.

Nutrition

Calories: 823kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 30g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 151mg | Sodium: 642mg | Potassium: 222mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 73g | Vitamin A: 1358IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 110mg | Iron: 3mg